Sunday might have marked Ray Lewis’ last introductory dance in Charm City, but we haven’t seen the final performance by the virtuoso linebacker.

Baltimore’s 24-9 victory over the upstart Indianapolis Colts means Lewis’ remarkable 17-year career is still very much alive in what he has said is his final season, as the Ravens advance to face the Denver Broncos next weekend.

The legend of Lewis moved on, while Colts rookie Andrew Luck – who might someday be to NFL quarterbacks what Lewis was to middle linebackers – had his spectacular first season come to an end on the road against a better team.

The Ravens will be away the rest of Lewis’ “last ride,” but there remains a chance Beyonce won’t be the only one we see dancing in New Orleans at Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3.

Lewis shook off 10 weeks of idleness because of a torn triceps to start for Baltimore for the first time since Week 6. He dropped an interception, but finished with 13 tackles, plus his usual immeasurable injections of leadership and enthusiasm.

Besides the Lewis saga, the Baltimore-Indianapolis matchup had more plot twists than a Tom Clancy thriller, as the two most compelling story lines in the 2012 playoffs met head-on.

Colts coach Chuck Pagano not only was part of the Ravens defensive staff the past four seasons, he was a Miami assistant in Lewis’ final collegiate season as a Hurricane. Pagano got a big hug from Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs in the waning minutes.

Indianapolis offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who guided the Colts to a 9-3 record in Pagano’s leukemia-forced absence, missed Sunday’s game because he was hospitalized with an illness. Taking over the Colts’ play-calling duties was quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen, who was Jim Caldwell’s offensive coordinator his last two seasons in Indianapolis.

And Caldwell, now the Ravens offensive coordinator, was calling their plays.

Baltimore QB Joe Flacco, who keeps winning playoff games but gets little credit, outplayed Luck on this day. Flacco threw for 282 yards and two TDs to run his playoffs record to 6-4.

He and Ray Rice made a great adjustment on a second-quarter screen pass that was smoked out early by Colts veteran linebacker Robert Mathis. Rice made an inside move instead of the intended outside route, Flacco patiently found him, and Rice turned it into a 47-yard play to set up the game’s first TD.

In the third quarter, Flacco stepped up to avoid the Colts’ rush and, on the run, found tight end Dennis Pitta for a 20-yard catch-and-run TD.

On both the Rice and Pitta plays, Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith made the decisive blocks down-field, as adroitly noted by CBS announcer Jim Nantz.

Rice, who had only one lost fumble in the regular season, lost two Sunday to help keep it close – but the first not only deserves a big asterisk, it should be a case study for a needed rules change.

Flacco had driven the Ravens to the Colts 11 in the first quarter before Rice lost the football, which was awarded to Indianapolis despite Baltimore tackle Marshal Yanda clearly recovering the football, as well as coming out of the pile with it.

Those in-the-pile fumbles aren’t subject to being overturned by review, but replays this time clearly showed Yanda was the only man who controlled the ball. He didn’t just steal it away in the scramble, although that happens countless times and determines possession as well.

What basis referee Mike Carey’s crew used in awarding the ball to the Colts remains a mystery.

Replay rules clearly need review in light of this. If the evidence is there, use it, since the point of the exercise is to get the call right. It didn’t cost the Ravens a victory and an advance, but it could have.

The significance of what might’ve been Lewis’ final game, however, was not lost on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who not only was in attendance at M&T Bank Stadium, but shared a pregame hug with the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 13-time Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl XXXV Most Valuable Player.

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